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demand feeding ?

Hi Ladies,

I was wondering when you stopped counting hours and waking baby for feedings and allowed baby to tell you when she is hungry (waking on her own)?

My daughter wakes up for feeding on her own during the day half the time, the other half, I have to wake her. Its so much harder when I have to force her awake and would like to move to a more "on demand" schedule. I am much looser about it at night, she slept for 4-6 hour stretches the last 3 nights.

Any thoughts? Should I worry about the long stretches at night?

She is almost 3 weeks, good diaper output, hasn't been weighed this week, but was gaining about an ounce per day last week.

Re: demand feeding ?

I was told by my breastfeeding group to feed/wake up ds if he went longer than 3 hours during the day (to keep my supply up), but to not bother waking him in the middle of the night unless I woke up feeling "overfull". The LC said that once breastfeeding is established I can go on pure demand as long as his weight gain was good and he was having good output. I assume that by the time ds is 6 weeks we can switch to a "demand-only" schedule and see how it goes.

although, ds rarely goes 3 hours, usually he's a 2 - 2 1/2hr eater

~Jenn~

mother of 2 boys!08/14/98~~03/20/08Birth: 7lbs 12oz, 1 year: 22lbs 11oz until he self-weaned 4 days before his third birthday ... still on occasion ... and happily ************************************************** ************************************************** *****************People need to understand that when they're deciding between breastmilk and formula, they're not deciding between Coke and Pepsi.... They're choosing between a live, pure substance and a dead substance made with the cheapest oils available. ~Chele Marmet

Re: demand feeding ?

You may want to continue to feed on a 2-3 hour schedule at least until 6 wks. Sounds like lo is sleeping good thru the night but let me warn you my lo did that and then went back to getting up 2-3 times a night. So be careful not to let your supply dwindle during the night time hours. You could either wake baby to feed or let lo sleep and just pump to ensure you have enough if lo starts waking again during the night. However, your body should continue to regualte itself, if baby starts nite nursing. After 6 wks. was about when my lo started on demand feeding, I just watched for his cues. And remember, around 6-8 weeks some babies hit a growth spurt and may want to eat all the time. This is normal. I thought I was misreading feeding cues, but he was hungry!!! You're doing great! Keep it up!!

Re: demand feeding ?

I was pretty careful until about four weeks...by then I was to dang exhausted to wake him up (but that's what you get when you have a baby who won't fall asleep unless he's in your arms or lying on your chest...a habit that is much cuter after a decent night's sleep). But he was always a good gainer and I always (except for a brief period when I was following some bad advice) had a great supply.

Re: demand feeding ?

great...I will continue to wake if she doesn't for another few weeks then (except at night). During the long night stretches, I pump for a few minutes on each side just to relieve the pain (usually gets about 2 oz), so hopefully the supply will survive.